Electronic marketplace used to lease domain names and redirect web surfers from leased domain names

ABSTRACT

An electronic marketplace allows owners of unused Internet domain names to lease the domain names using a bidding process. The system allows owners to monetize domain names and lessees to obtain customers who are redirected from targeted domain names.

CROSS-RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 60/717,306 filed Sep. 16, 2005, and U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/738,382 filed Nov. 30, 2005.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to monetization of unused Internet domain namesand online advertising.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Internet domain monetization allows domain name owners to earn revenuefrom domain names that are unused, e.g. have only place-holder websites. Currently monetization is accomplished by placing sponsored linkson unused domains, also referred to as “parking” a domain. For examplethe owner of cellphones.com might place sponsored links to destinationsites such as verizon.com, att.com, and nextel.com. The domain owner isthen paid for every click on a sponsored link, or for every click on asponsored link that results in the conversion of the end user into acustomer on the destination site.

Sponsored links are provided by advertising networks such GoogleAdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and LinkShare. These advertisingnetworks have agreements with advertisers such as Verizon, AT&T, andNextel. Alternatively, sponsored links are provided by an intermediary,who specializes in optimizing the revenue produced by unused domains.Intermediaries provide sponsored links from one or many advertisingnetworks. There are a number of intermediaries that provide this type ofservice including DomainSponsor, Parking.com, and Sedo.com.

The main limitation of monetizing unused domains with sponsored links isthat it is contingent on end users clicking on links. In many cases onlyfew end users click on the sponsored links and so the domain owner doesnot monetize the bulk of the Web traffic to their website. For example,in the case of cellphones.com, if 1,000,000 users visit the site everyday and only 5% of the users click on sponsored links, then 950,000 ofthe daily users are not monetized.

Another limitation of monetizing unused domains using sponsored links isthat advertisers have their sponsored links placed next to competingservices and have to vie for the attention, and clicks, of end users.

A different type of advertising network is provided byTrafficRouter.com. TrafficRouter sells electronic real-estate onwebsites. Customers can purchase banner advertising space or textadvertising links on various websites that register with TrafficRouter.Customers bid to gain the right to have their banner shown on anotherwebsite or to have a link on another website point to their destinationsite. The TrafficRouter model also suffers from the limitation thatwebsite owners, or domain owners, are only paid when end users click onbanners or links. Furthermore, it does not allow advertisers to fullyown the user experience.

U.S. Patent Application 20010034657 shows a system that allows domainowners to sublicense sub-domains, also known as third-level domains. Forexample, the owner of house.com could sublicense chicago.house.com orphiladelphia.house.com. This model has two significant limitations.First, it is much more likely that individuals surfing the web wouldtype-in a second-level domain such as house.com compared to athird-level domain such as chicago.house.com. Thus, a service thatoffers access to second-level domains is much more attractive toadvertisers. Second, since sub-domains are simply licensed for a fixedfee, there is no mechanism for identifying a fair price for domains.

On eBay, users sell blocks of traffic. For example, a user might createan auction for 10,000 users who will be sent to the winner's website.The winner of the auction receives traffic from various sources,including redirects from unused domains. A problem with this model isthat the advertiser does not get to pick the specific domains that willsend it traffic. Another problem is that advertisers are bidding forfixed blocks of traffic, so they have to keep buying blocks in separatelots in order to have a continuous level of redirected traffic.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention creates an electronic marketplace where owners ofInternet domain names can have multiple parties compete for the right tolease their domain names. A marketplace provider supplies a technologyfor redirecting Internet traffic from leased domain names to domainnames specified by parties that win the right to lease domain names.

This invention addresses the limitations of the prior art by redirectingusers who visit an unused domain directly to one or more advertisers.The advertiser pays a predetermined bid amount per redirected end user.For example, every end user who visits cellphones.com might beredirected to the Verizon website. Thus, the redirect model can resultin 100% of end users visiting an unused domain being monetized, insteadof only end users who click on sponsored links. Moreover, with theredirect model advertisers never compete for the attention, and clicks,of end users. The prices for leased domains are set by a marketplacethat can weight a number of variables in lease transactions, includingmonetary bids, time of day/week/year, total revenue received from alessee, geographic location, customer conversion rate, etc.

The current invention also has the advantage of providing the end user auser experience fully owned by the advertiser: the user never need seean originating website and never has to find and click on a link orbanner. Rather, the user is seamlessly redirected to the advertisersite.

As an example, the owner of espn.com and the owner ofsportillustrated.com might compete to lease traffic fromtennistoday.com. Each party would submit a bid amount that it is willingto pay for each visitor redirected from tennistoday.com to its website.If the owner of espn.com submits a higher bid than the owner ofsportsillustrated.com, then the owner of espn.com would win the right tolease traffic from tennistoday.com. Individuals that typetennistoday.com into their Web browsers would then be redirected usingthe marketplace technology to espn.com. Biddings can be conductedperiodically. For example, there might be only one day a month thatpotential lessees could bid for domain names.

Each redirect of Internet traffic costs the lessee (the owner ofespn.com in the example) the monetary amount bid. The lesseeperiodically pays the marketplace the monetary amount owed, with themarketplace taking a transaction fee and transferring the balance to thelessor (the owner of tennistoday.com in the example).

The present invention allows advertisers to select domains that relateto their businesses, increasing the chances of converting the redirectedusers to customers. The present invention also allows for morecontinuity by having advertisers specify a daily (or other period)budget for redirects, which is fulfilled on an ongoing basis.

IN THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 a illustrates the Internet domain monetization marketplace, withthe lessor, lessee, and marketplace interacting over a network.

FIG. 1 b shows various databases used by the marketplace.

FIG. 2 a illustrates registration of a domain name lessor.

FIG. 2 b illustrates registration of a domain name lessee.

FIG. 2 c illustrates registration of a domain name lessor with theability to lockup domains.

FIG. 2 d illustrates registration of a domain name lessee with a cap onspending over a specified period.

FIG. 3 illustrates bidding by a lessee for a domain.

FIG. 4 illustrates determination of winning bids.

FIG. 5 illustrates redirection of Internet traffic from a lessor websiteto a lessee website.

FIG. 5 b illustrates redirection of Internet traffic from a lessorwebsite to a lessee website by mapping the lessor domain to themarketplace domain name servers.

FIG. 6 illustrates settlement of funds.

FIG. 7 shows matching based on keywords provided by lessees.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 a illustrates a domain name lessor 100 using a personal computerto access the domain marketplace 500 over a network 400 such as theInternet. The domain name lessor 100 registers and lists one to manydomain names which that individual or business owns and is interested inleasing to others. A potential domain name lessee 200 using a personalcomputer connects to the marketplace 500 over the network 400. Thedomain name lessee 200 then browses the marketplace for open auctionsfor domain names.

The marketplace 500 can present the information to the domain namelessor 100 and domain name lessee 200 using web pages which require webserver software on the marketplace server 500 such as WebSphere fromIBM. The domain name lessor 100 and domain name lessee 200 can then viewthe information using browser software such as Internet Explorer 6.0from Microsoft.

FIG. 1 b shows that the marketplace server 500 requires management of agreat deal of information, which for purposes of illustration is shownstored in a number of databases. Those skilled in the art will recognizethat a variety of options are available for storing and managing thisinformation. In FIG. 1 b, a lessor database 600 holds information aboutindividuals or businesses leasing domain names, such as the name of theindividual or business, the domain names being leased, address, e-mail,bank information, etc. The system assigns the lessor 100 a unique systemidentifier. A lessee database 601 holds similar information about theindividuals or businesses interested in leasing domain names, as well asthe domain names to which traffic is redirected. The system assigns eachlessee 200 a unique system identifier.

An auction database 602 holds information about the domain names beingauctioned including for each auction a unique identifier, bid open andclose times for every auction period of time (for example every month),minimum bid amount, and the unique system identifier of the lessor 100of the domain being auctioned. In addition, once an auction is won by alessee 200, the unique identifier of that lessee 200 is captured in theauction database 602.

A bid database 603 holds the bids in an auction. Each record in the biddatabase 603 includes a unique bid identifier, the auction identifierassociated with the bid, the lessor identifier of the bidder, and atimestamp to capture the time the bid was made. A redirect database 604is used to redirect web traffic from the lessor domain name to thedomain name of the lessee that won the auction.

FIG. 2 a shows an example of the process that a lessor 100 follows whenregistering with the marketplace server 500. The lessor starts byproviding a unique username, password, and contact e-mail 2001. Next,the lessor provides bank information 2002 including account number, bankrouting number, and bank name. The bank information is used by themarketplace 500 to pay the lessor for leased domain names. Next, thelessor provides one or more domain names 2003. For each domain thelessor 100 can optionally provide a minimum monetary amount required tolease the domain 2004. Next, the marketplace 500 assigns the lessor aunique identifier and sends the lessor an e-mail confirming theregistration 2006. Finally, all of the information relating to thelessor is stored in the lessor database 600. The marketplace can requireproof of or verify the lessor's right to lease the domain. In analternate embodiment the marketplace 500 sets a minimum monetary amountrequired to lease domains instead of the lessor 100 specifying thisamount.

FIG. 2 b provides an example of the process by which a lessee 200registers with the marketplace 500. The lessee provides a uniqueusername, password, and contact e-mail 2101. Next, the lessee providesbank information 2102 including account number, bank routing number, andbank name. The bank information is used to pull funds owed to themarketplace 500 and the lessor 100 on the agreed basis. Next, the lesseeprovides one or more domain names 2103 to which it would like toredirect Web traffic. As described below, when bidding on a domain namethe lessor indicates to which of the domain names provided duringregistration internet traffic should be redirected. Next, themarketplace 500 assigns the lessee a unique identifier and sends thelessee an e-mail confirming the registration 2105. Finally, all of theinformation relating to the lessee 200 is stored in the lessee database601.

FIG. 2 c shows an alternate embodiment of the invention. Step 2205allows the lessor to set a lockout amount and lockout period for adomain, allowing a lessee to receive traffic from the domain exclusivelyfor a pre-specified period. Other steps of the lessor 100 registrationare identical to the steps described in FIG. 2 a. The first lessee 200to bid above the lockout amount will then have all traffic redirectedfrom that domain to the winning bidder's website until the lockoutperiod ends. While the lockout amounts and periods can be set by thelessor during the lessor registration, the lockout values can also beset using a lessor account management feature provided by themarketplace 500. In another embodiment of the invention the marketplace500 sets the lockout values for lessor domains. The marketplace 500 canset the lockout at any time except when a lockout is in effect for alessor's domain.

FIG. 2 d shows another embodiment of the invention. In step 2303, alessee provides a maximum dollar amount per day, or any other timeperiod, for spending on redirected web surfers. Other steps of theregistration are identical to the steps described in FIG. 2 b. As anexample, a lessee 200 such as espn.com could specify a maximum of $1000per day, which could translate to 10,000 web surfers redirected to theespn.com website at an average cost of $0.10 per web surfer, allredirected from websites owned by lessors using the marketplaceservices. The maximum budget amount can be modified after the originalregistration using an account management function. Such a functioncould, for example, be accessed over the internet on a website providedby the marketplace 500 or by contacting the marketplace 500 by phone.

With this type of a cap on the amount spent per day set by a lessee, themarketplace 500 could redirect all traffic to the highest bidder andwhen the cap is reached start redirecting traffic to the second highestbidder, up to that bidder's cap, and then onto the third highest bidderand so on. This mechanism can be used with any bidding embodiments, withlessees able to bid on specific times of day, month, year, geographicallocations, etc., and lessors able to optimize lessees to maximizerevenue by considering repeat business, segmentation by time andgeography, etc.

As seen in FIG. 3, the process of bidding for a domain name requires thelessee 200 to login 3001 to the marketplace 500 using its uniqueusername and password. Next, the lessee must select a domain nameauction 3002 from a list provided by the marketplace 500. Then thelessee 200 must check whether the auction is open for bidding 3003. Ifnot, the lessee must select another auction; otherwise, the lessee canplace a bid on the auction 3004. The bid includes a monetary amount thatthe lessee 200 is willing to pay per web visitor that is redirected fromthe leased domain name to a domain name owned by the lessee 200. The bidamount must be greater than any other bid placed on the auction. Inaddition, if a minimum bid amount was indicated by the lessor 100 thenthe bid must be greater than that amount. The bid must also contain thedomain name to which the lessee 200 wants to redirect traffic. Finally,the lessee 200 receives a confirmation through e-mail of the bid.

FIG. 4 illustrates the process which the marketplace 500 uses to settlethe auctions. The process starts with the marketplace 500 checking foran auction whose bidding period has ended 4001 that have bids but noselected winning bid 4003. The marketplace 500 checks the auctiondatabase 602 and bid database 603 every minute (or other set time) forthis information 4002. For every auction found that meets the abovecriteria, the marketplace 500 selects the highest bid amount and recordsin the auction database 602 the bid as the winning bid. If a minimum bidamount is available for the auction then the highest bid must be abovethe minimum amount for it to be recorded as the winning bid. Inaddition, a record is added to the redirect database 604 indicating theleased domain, the domain to which internet traffic is redirected, aredirect expiration date, and the monetary amount associated with thebid 4005. The domain to which traffic is redirected can be obtained fromthe bid record. Then the winner and the domain name owner 4006 arenotified.

FIG. 5 illustrates the process used to redirect traffic from the websitefor the leased domain name to the website of the lessee. The processbegins when a web surfer 5000 using a browser such as Internet Explorer6.0 from Microsoft visits the website for the leased domain name 5001.The web surfer accesses the website for the leased domain name over anetwork 400 such as the Internet. The web server hosting the leasedwebsite then redirects the web surfer to the marketplace server 5002.This can be accomplished by having the lessor 100 place an html metatagin the default page of the leased website that redirects traffic to themarketplace website after the default page is loaded. Next themarketplace 500 confirms that the redirected web surfer 500 came from adomain name listed in the lessor database 600. This can be accomplishedby having software check the header of the Internet Protocol packetsthat arrive at the marketplace server 500. Next, if the marketplace 500successfully confirms the origin of the web surfer, the marketplace 500checks the redirect database 604 for the domain name to which the websurfer is redirected. The marketplace 500 redirects the web surfer tothe lessee's website 5003 found in the redirect database 604. Themarketplace 500 then retrieves from the redirect database 604 themonetary amount to charge for the redirect, and adds a record in thebilling database 605 indicating that the lessee owes that monetaryamount to the lessor.

A further embodiment of the invention requires lessors 100 to map theirdomains to domain name servers belonging to the marketplace beforelessors can use the marketplace service. In order to point the domainsto the domain servers of the marketplace 500, lessors must go to thedomain registrar whom they used to buy the domains and change the DNSsettings for the domains they are leasing. The DNS settings for theleased domains should be updated to point to the primary and secondarydomain servers of the marketplace 500. The domain registrar might alsorequire that the internet protocol address of the primary and secondarymarketplace 500 domain servers be specified.

For example, the lessor 100 of tennistoday.com would go to its domainregistrar (for example register.com) and change the DNS setting fortennistoday.com to point to the marketplace domain servers, for exampleserver1.marketplace.com and server2.marketplace.com. The domainregistrar might also require that the internet protocol address of theprimary and secondary domain servers be specified, for example223.32.24.234 and 223.32.24.235.

Once the lessor domain is pointing to the domain servers of themarketplace 500, the process of redirecting web surfers is depicted inFIG. 5 b. Initially a web surfer working on a personal computer 5100types into his web browser a domain name of a lessor 100. Next, themarketplace domain server 5101 is reached through the DNS architectureand the lessor 100 domain is resolved to the internet protocol addressof the marketplace server 5102. Then the marketplace server 5102 findsthe appropriate lessee web server 6103 in the Redirect Database 604 towhich to redirect the web surfer.

An alternate embodiment requires lessors 100 to use domain forwardinginstead of re-pointing their domains. As with re-pointing domains,domain forwarding can be set up through the domain registrar (e.g.register.com). The forwarding address would be a web address owned bythe marketplace 500 and the forward would include the domain name thatset to forward. For example tennistoday.com would use the followingforwarding address: http://www.marketplace.com/tennistoday.com.

FIG. 6 illustrates the process used to settle funds between the parties.The process starts with the marketplace 500 retrieving a billing recordfrom the billing database 605. The marketplace then retrieves from thelessor database 600 the bank account number and routing number of thelessee associated with the billing record. Next the marketplace, using atechnology such as ACH, retrieves the funds indicated on the billingrecord from the bank of the lessee into the marketplace's bank account.Once the funds have been deposited into the marketplace's bank accountthe marketplace using ACH transfers, a subset of the funds istransferred to the lessor associated with the billing record. The bankinformation of the lessor is retrieved from the lessor database 600. Thefunds settling processes is performed periodically, for example once amonth.

Instead of using ACH, the marketplace can also use credit cards, debitcards, or solutions such as PayPal to transfer funds. Therefore, in FIG.2 a instead of providing bank information in step 2002, the lessor 100can provide a PayPal account where funds owed will be placed by themarketplace on a regular basis. Similarly in FIG. 2 a step 2102, insteadof providing bank information the lessee can provide credit or debitcard information. The marketplace then on a regular basis charges thelessee's credit or debit card the amount owned. Alternatively, all fundsowed by a specific lessee cam be retrieved using one ACH transaction orone credit or debit transaction that is performed periodically.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the auctions for domainnames have no time limit. The auctions are always open for bids. At anytime a lessee can outbid the highest bid for a domain name. The processfor bidding remains as described in FIG. 3. However, the process forfinding the winning bid described in FIG. 4 changes slightly.Periodically, for example every few minutes, all auctions are reviewedand if a new highest bid is placed for a given auction the marketplacechecks whether the bid is above the minimum bid amount, if one exists,and if so sets the new bid as the winning bid in the auction database602 and resets the redirect database 604 to the lessee's domain nameindicated by the winning bid. Alternatively, whenever a new bid isplaced the marketplace checks in the auction database 602 whether thenew bid is higher than existing bids for the given auction. In addition,the new bid is checked to be above the minimum bid amount, if oneexists. If both conditions are met, the marketplace 500 sets the new bidas the winning bid in the auction database 602 and resets the redirectdatabase 604 to the lessee's domain name indicated by the winning bid.

It may be desirable to some lessees and/or lessors to group domain namesinto categories. Domain names that relate to a certain topic are groupedby the system administrator, either manually or automatically. The groupnames and the domain names they contain are stored in a group databaseon the marketplace server. The auction database 602 stores the categoryname being auctioned and the associated domain names for each auction.The process described in FIG. 3 remains the same, except that lesseesbid on groups instead of individual domains. The process described inFIG. 4 also remains the same, except that in step 4005 the marketplace500 records in the redirect database 604 a record per domain name in thecategory that was bid on. In addition, in step 4006 all of the domainname owners in the category bid on are notified of the winning bid.

In another embodiment of the invention, multiple bidders win the biddingfor a category. During the bidding described in FIG. 3, bidders submitbids 3004 that are higher than the specified minimum. Bids do not needto be higher than other bids made for the same auction. All other stepsof FIG. 3 remain the same. Also, in FIG. 4 step 4003 which determinesthe winning bids the marketplace 500 finds the highest set of bids. Forexample, the marketplace 500 finds the top three bids placed in theauction. In step 4005, the marketplace 500 records all of the winningbids in the auction database 602 and the redirect database 604. Finally,in FIG. 5, before the marketplace redirects the visitor web surfer to alessee 200, the marketplace 500 finds all of the lessees that won theauction for the category to which the leased domain name belongs. Themarketplace 500 then picks in order one of the lessee and redirect theuser to that lessee's website. The next time the marketplace 500redirects to a different lessee among the winning lessees for thatcategory. In order to keep track of the last lessee to which themarketplace redirected a web surfer, the marketplace can mark the recordof that lessee in the redirect database 604. The marketplace 500 canstart with the highest bid among the lessees and next redirect to thedomain of the next highest bid. When the marketplace 500 reaches thelowest bid among the winning bids for the category the marketplace 500can again redirect to the domain owned by the highest bidder for thecategory.

Alternatively, when the marketplace 500 picks among the winning bids,the marketplace could pick the lessee with the higher bid more oftenthan the lessees with lower bids. This can be accomplished by having themarketplace administrator assign percentages to each winning bid, withlarger percentages being assigned to higher bidding lessees.Alternatively, an algorithm can be used to assign these percentages. Forexample, the algorithm could provide the highest bidder with 50% of theredirected traffic, the next higher bidder 30%, and the third highestbidder 20%. Also, the algorithm could redirect all traffic to thehighest bidder until some maximum amount of traffic (or expense) isreached for the day (or other period). That maximum amount could beprovided by the lessee when bidding. Once the maximum is reached thenext highest bidder would get the balance of the redirected trafficuntil the day ends (or some other period).

The marketplace allows lessees to bid in bulk on domains. For example, alessee could specify a bid for all domains in a certain category or formultiple categories. Alternatively, the lessee could manually select aset of domains to bid on and provide one bid value for all of theselected domains. The marketplace then informs the lessee of the domainsfor which its bid is the highest, or domains for which its bid is one ofa set of winning bids.

Lessees can also specify for a set of bulk domains a maximum dollaramount per day, or any other time period, for spending on redirected websurfers. This amount would be in place of the maximum dollar amountprovided during registration described in FIG. 2 d.

Lessees 200 may also provide keywords that relate to the domain name towhich they want to redirect web surfers. The marketplace 500 thenmatches the keywords with lessors' domain names that contain thosekeywords. Lessees also provide the amount they are willing to pay perweb surfer redirected to their domain. Thus, as part of FIG. 2 b, instep 2103 in addition to providing a domain name, lessors provide a setof keywords that relate to each domain name and a monetary amount perdomain name that the lessor would pay per redirected web surfer. Insteadof the bidding described in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, a matching algorithmdescribed in FIG. 7 is used. In step 7001 the marketplace 500 checkswhether a certain amount of time past since the last time the matchingalgorithm ran, for example have five minutes past. The last run time canbe recorded in the database. If the necessary amount of time has notpassed then in step 7002 the marketplace waits a minute and then returnsto step 7001. If enough time has passed since the last run, then themarketplace 500 selects one lessee 7003 and selects one keyword providedby the lessee 7004. The marketplace 500 then searches all of theregistered lessor domain names for the keyword. All domain names thatcontain the keyword are identified and for each match a record iscreated in the redirect database 604. Next, the marketplace 500 checksif another keyword was provided by the lessee 7007, and if so it repeatssteps 7004 to 7005 for that keyword. Once all keywords for a lessee 200have been processed the marketplace 500 checks for another lessee 200that has not been processed. The database can be used to keep track oflessees that have been processed, or matched with domain names. If themarketplace 500 finds a lessee 200 that was not processed, it repeatsthe steps starting at 7003, or else it returns to the waiting state7002. Next, the marketplace 500 after running the matching algorithm canuse a round robin when multiple lessees 200 match a lessor's 100 domainname, as described above. Alternatively, the marketplace 500 can assignpercentages to higher bids as described in above.

Instead of only matching keywords provided by the lessee, themarketplace 500 alternatively can look up synonyms and related wordsbased on the provided keywords. Synonyms can be looked up using adictionary. Related words can be looked up from a database, such asthose used in speech processing applications. An example of relatedwords is “baseball” and “bat”. Once related words and synonyms areidentified, they can also be used in the matching step 7006.

Lessors can also provide keywords in addition to the lessees providingkeywords. Lessors provide keywords related to the domain name theyregister with the marketplace. This is done in FIG. 2 a as part of step2004. In FIG. 7, step 7006 matching can be done between the key wordsand related words of the lessors and key words and related words of thelessee, thereby optimizing redirection of web surfers.

Furthermore, in another embodiment of the invention lessors provide aset of keywords and the monetary amount they will pay per visitorredirected to their domain. Lessees register with the marketplace andprovide a minimum monetary amount per visitor redirected from theirdomain. A software program then matches lessees with lessors by findingdomain names registered with the marketplace that contain one or more ofthe keywords supplied by individual lessors; for those domains theprogram checks that the specified minimum monetary amount is less thanthe monetary amount supplied by the individual lessors. In cases whenmultiple lessors are matched with a lessee a round robin is used toredirect web surfers to the domains associated with the lessors. Lesseeswith higher bids can receive a higher percentage of redirected websurfers.

Lessees can use an interface provided by the marketplace, such as a webinterface, to find a list of lessor domains that relate to a keyword ora set of keywords. The process of identifying the domains is identicalto the matching process described above, where keywords provided by thelessee are searched within the lessor domains. In addition to theprovided keywords, synonyms of the keywords can be searched in thelessor domains. Misspellings and commonly associated words can also besearched in the lessor domains. Once a list of lessor domains isprovided, the lessee can choose to bid on all or a subset of thedomains.

A computer program or an electronic agent can be used to assist with thebidding. A lessee would use such an electronic agent to avoid having tomanually monitor the bidding on a domain. The electronic agent can begiven by the lessee specific domains to bid on and a maximum bid amountper domain. The electronic agent then bids on behalf of the lessee,bidding above other bidders up to the maximum amount specified perdomain by the lessee. In another embodiment, the electronic agents donot bid but instead notify lessees when one of their bids has beenout-bid. It is then the lessees' decision whether to increase theirbids. Notifications can be made using communication media such as e-mailor phone.

In a further embodiment, the web surfer is only redirected to a lessee's200 domain name if the web surfer is identified as being from apre-specified geographic location. In this embodiment, the lessee whenbidding in FIG. 3 step 3004 provides geographic restrictions that itwould like to have associated with the bid. The marketplace then usesthe geographic restriction in FIG. 5 step 5002. By looking at the IPaddress of the web surfer, the marketplace can determine the generalgeographic location of the web surfer. Only when the web surfer iswithin the required region will the marketplace 500 redirect that userto the lessee 200.

The lessee 200 can also specify a certain time frame during which websurfers should be redirected to their site. The implementation of thisembodiment is identical to the one described in the previous paragraphexcept that the restriction is time based as opposed to location based.

The marketplace can also track and capture the action of a web surferafter he is redirected from a lessor 100 domain to the website of alessee 200. One way to accomplish this tracking is by placing an imagelink that loads from the marketplace 500 server on pages belonging tothe lessee 200. Thus, whenever those images are loaded the marketplace500 can capture the action in the redirect database 604.

It is also possible to place sponsored links on the lessee's domainuntil a lessor successfully bids for the domain, such as Google'sAdSense. With sponsored links, a set of links are placed on a web page.Such a web page appears when the lessee's domain is typed into a webbrowser. Each click on a sponsored link makes the lessor some money.Once a lessee is matched with a lessor, the redirect model can be usedinstead of sponsored links.

Winning bids may be determined by multiple criteria, not just bidamount. For example, customer conversion rate and maximum daily budgetcan also be used to determine winning bids. For example, in step 4003 ofFIG. 4, the marketplace 500 can calculate the weighted average of thebid amount, daily budget amount and customer conversion rate (calculatedusing tracking information stored in the redirect database). Thisweighted average can then be used to determine winning bids.

While certain representative embodiments and details have been shown forpurposes of illustrating the invention, it will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art that various changes in the methods and apparatusdisclosed herein may be made without departing from the scope of theinvention which is defined in the appended claims.

1. A method for leasing of domain names in an electronic marketplace,comprising: (a) providing an electronic marketplace including at leastone marketplace server on which lessors may list domain names for leaseof redirected internet traffic; (b) providing access to the electronicmarketplace, enabling potential lessees to bid on redirected trafficfrom domain names for lease; (c) maintaining database information forthe electronic marketplace that includes information on lessors,lessees, bid terms, and payment transfers from lessors to lessees. 2.The method of claim 1, further comprising: (a) establishing criteria forselecting a winning bid for redirected traffic from a domain name, thecriteria including at least one variable selected from the groupconsisting of the monetary amount of a bid, the time period covered by abid, keywords provided by the lessor and/or potential lessee, the totalrevenue received from a bidding lessee, and the geographic location ofthe bidding lessee; (b) comparing a plurality of bids from a pluralityof bidding lessees using the selected criteria; and (c) selecting awinning lessee from the bidding lessees.
 3. The method of claim 2,further comprising redirecting traffic from the domain name to aninternet site designated by the winning lessee.
 4. The method of claim3, wherein the winning lessee is the exclusive recipient of redirectedtraffic during a specified time period.
 5. The method of claim 3,wherein a plurality of winning lessees receive redirected traffic duringspecified time periods on a prioritized basis established by weightingat least one variable selected from the group consisting of the monetaryamount of each winning lessee's bid, keywords provided by each winninglessee, the total revenue received from each winning lessee, time of dayspecified by each winning lessee's bid, and the geographic location ofeach winning lessee.
 6. The method of claim 2, wherein the biddinglessee sets a cap to the amount spent in a specified time period forredirected traffic.
 7. The method of claim 2, wherein a bidding lesseebids for redirected traffic from a plurality of domain names.
 8. Themethod of claim 2, wherein a bidding lessee may submit new bids at anytime in an attempt to outbid a prior winning lessee for redirectedtraffic, thereby becoming the new winning lessee.
 9. The method of claim2, wherein a bidding lessee may submit new bids at any time in anattempt to outbid a prior winning lessee for redirected traffic, therebybecoming the new winning lessee.
 10. The method of claim 3, furthercomprising placing a sponsored link on a lessor's domain at times whenno successful bids from lessees have been received for redirectedtraffic from the domain.
 11. The method of claim 3, further comprising:(a) collecting payment from the winning lessee; and (b) transferringpayment to the lessor of the domain name.